Memorial for murder victim Sade Robinson halted due to racism, but family presses on to preserve her legacy

19-year-old Sade Robinson was brutally murdered and dismembered in Milwaukee in April of 2024. Recently, community leaders walked back its proposal to create a memorial for Sade after they received multiple racist emails and other backlash toward the move. The victim’s family has now launched a GoFundMe to create a permanent memorial and a nonprofit organization.

Foundation set to carry out her legacy

Sade’s Voice Foundation is a nonprofit organization operated by her family to carry out her legacy by speaking out for primarily underserved BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) individuals who are missing, murdered, or whose cases have been neglected and mishandled by media and law enforcement.

Photo: GoFundMe

These funds will serve to help start up operations of this nonprofit, though they will primarily be used to plant a permanent memorial for Sade Robinson (in collaboration with Milwaukee County Parks), the first annual Sade’s Voice Community Artist Gala Fundraiser event, and grants/scholarships for Sade’s Voice self-defense courses for young women in the Milwaukee area, and our 2nd annual Sade’s Voice Foundation Back to School Drive.

Sade Robinson was senselessly murdered, but she still has a voice

Robinson went missing in April after a first date. Maxwell Anderson, 33, was quickly named a person of interest in case. He was charged in April with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and arson.

Robinson’s bereaved mother requested that county officials sponsor a $7,000 memorial for her, citing the fact that the family didn’t have an intact body to bury, FOX6 reported.

“We don’t have all of my baby’s remains, we don’t still have all of my baby’s remains,” her mother Sheena Scarbrough said, the outlet reports. “We don’t have a gravesite to go to. This is still the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

Memorial halted due to racism, officials say

However, when county officials began planning for the memorial, they say they received a multitude racist messages about the plan, officials told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. County Board Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez said there had been a “flurry of racist emails.”

County Supervisor Felesia Martin told the paper, “It is most unfortunate that we’re at this moment in our country’s history where, once again, we feel very comfortable being overt with our prejudices, with our racism and with just plain evil, hateful thoughts.”

“I just want to say shame on people for treating a grieving mother this way and making it a race thing, and treating her as subhuman when it’s absolutely unnecessary and absolutely unethical and it shows the most disgusting and detestable parts of our society,” he said.

The suspect, Anderson, is White and Robinson was Black, though authorities have not said the case is related to race.

Anderson was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and arson.

According to online court records, he has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set for May 5, FOX6 reports.

GoFundMe for Sade Robinson Memorial

Robinson was set to graduate from MATC, according a beautiful story written about Robinson. She planned to join the Air Force then pursue a Bachelors degree and work for the FBI after her military tenure.

If you are interested in contributing to the foundation’s plight to carry out her legacy, visit the GoFundMe here.